This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Medication

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

  • use extreme caution if the patient is taking alcohol, barbiturates or is epileptic

NICE suggest (2):

  • if a person with delirium is distressed or considered a risk to themselves or others and verbal and non-verbal de-escalation techniques are ineffective or inappropriate, consider giving short-term (usually for 1 week or less) haloperidol
    • start at the lowest clinically appropriate dose and titrate cautiously according to symptoms
  • use antipsychotic drugs with caution or not at all for people with conditions such as Parkinson's disease or dementia with Lewy bodies

Benzodiazepines should be avoided in the elderly due to the risk of inducing an acute confusional state (1).

Reference:

  1. Prescribers' Journal (1999);39 (3):129-135.
  2. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) 2019. Delirium: prevention, diagnosis and management

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.